SPACECRAFT AND EXPENDABLE VEHICLES STATUS REPORTNovember 14, 2002 George
H. Diller Kennedy
Space Center 321/867-2468
MISSION: Tracking and
Data Relay Satellite-J (TDRS-J) LAUNCH VEHICLE: Lockheed
Martin Atlas IIA (AC-144) LAUNCH SITE: Pad 36-A, Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station LAUNCH DATE: December 4, 2002 NET LAUNCH WINDOW: 10:42
p.m. – 11:22 p.m. EST
The TDRS-J spacecraft is undergoing final checkout
at the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility –2 in the KSC Industrial
Area. Encapsulation of the
spacecraft into the Atlas payload fairing is scheduled for Nov. 20 and the
spacecraft will go to the pad on Nov. 22. At Pad
A on Launch Complex 36, the final test will be the Composite Electrical
Readiness Test (CERT) on Nov. 25 which occurs after TDRS-J has been mated to
the launch vehicle. This will
verify that the vehicle and spacecraft are operating on an integrated basis.
NASA and Lockheed Martin continue to assess the failure of an upper
stage turbo pump that occurred during testing at the vendor. While the pump in question is not from
an Atlas launch vehicle, it is similar to what is on AC-144. More time is still necessary to
complete the analysis, so the launch is now targeted for Dec. 4. NASA and
Lockheed Martin remain optimistic that AC-144 will be cleared for launch in the
next several days. MISSION: Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite
(ICESAT) and the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPSAT) LAUNCH VEHICLE: Boeing Delta II with Reduced
Height Dual Payload Attach Fitting (DPAF) LAUNCH SITE: SLC-2W Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) LAUNCH DATE:
December 19, 2002 LAUNCH WINDOW: 4:45 – 5:30 p.m. PST At the
Astrotech Space Operations Payload Processing Facility, ICESAT battery
conditioning started Nov. 8 and will last 12 days. The two-day spacecraft fueling operation begins Nov.
18. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter
System functional test and a solar array illumination test have been
successfully completed. The instruments on ICESAT have been developed by the
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) under a contract with
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Also at Astrotech, CHIPSAT has successfully completed spacecraft
functional testing. The Payload
Adapter Assembly and Payload Adapter Fitting were installed onto the spacecraft
Nov. 8. CHIPSAT mating to the
Reduced-Height Dual Payload Attach Fitting (RH DPAF) was completed on November
12 and mating of the upper cone/cylinder to the lower cone of the RH DPAF is
underway today.
Meanwhile, at Space Launch Complex 2, the power-on testing of the Boeing
Delta II was completed successfully.
The main propulsion system leak checks are underway and will be
completed on Friday. On November
14, a Boeing Crew Certification (Crew Cert) and liquid oxygen loading will be
held. This is a countdown to
exercise the launch team and the first stage will be loaded with liquid
oxygen. A Simulated Flight (Sim
Flight) which is a flight test of the vehicle’s electrical and mechanical
systems will follow on November 18.
There
are no issues or concerns with the two spacecraft or the Boeing Delta II launch
vehicle and launch is on schedule for Thursday, Dec. 19 at 4:45 p.m. PST.
MISSION: Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment
(SORCE) LAUNCH VEHICLE: Pegasus XL LAUNCH LOCATION: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station LAUNCH DATE: January 25, 2003 NET LAUNCH WINDOW: 3:09 p.m. – 4:09 p.m. EST T-0: 3:14 P.M. EST. On the
Pegasus launch vehicle, the four stages of the vehicle have been de-mated. The electrical boxes containing the
fasteners associated with the fin actuators and the thrust vector control
system have been removed and returned to the vendor. The fasteners will be re-torqued. They will be returned to
Orbital for reinstallation on the vehicle next week. The stages are to be re-mated the first week of December and
will be followed by a set flight simulations on November 6. The Combined Systems Test is currently
scheduled to occur on December 15. The ferry to KSC using the Orbital Sciences
L-1011 aircraft is anticipated for the third week of December, expected to
occur not later than December 21. Three Flight Simulation tests are also
planned at KSC prior to launch. Processing
of SORCE, built by the Orbital Sciences Space Systems Group, has been going
well since its arrival at the Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 26 in the
Multi-purpose Payload Processing Facility (MPPF). Due to launch delay, no work has been conducted over the
past week but will resume on a limited basis next week. There are no spacecraft issues or
concerns. The SORCE project
is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The instruments on the SORCE spacecraft are built by the
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
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